We boarded the Navimag ferry in the afternoon and all where very impressed with what it had to offer! 

It carries cargo and passengers from Puerto Montt to Puerto Natales through the Chillean Fiords.

We heard we were in a 22 bed dorm which gave us visions of us sleeping in bunk beds near the cargo of cows and horses, but were very impressed to find our dorms were very comfy and sectioned off into fours, with very comfortable mattresses and bedding and even privacy curtains to block your bed off from everyones view.

We were on the main deck and the higher decks contained a restaurant (all meals included) and a bar!

Lots of backpackers take the trip so was also a chance to mingle with others and have a few fun nights out drinking and dancing, and even playing a spot of bingo!

I've also had several opportunities to practice my samba, which I have to say seems to come easier and improve after quite a few drinks!!! 

Despite my concerns that I still don't have it down pat, I have apparently managed to impress my ship mates with my fancy footwork and probably even more so with my hip flexibility ;-)

Woohoo carnival here I come!

The Chillean Fiords are beautiful and picturesque, reminding me a lot of the New Zealands Sounds.

A lot of wild life can be seen - dolphins, albatross, seals, whales although still waiting for last 2!

We all had a bit of excitement last night and today when at 3 in the morning the ferry hit an island!

Having just come back from the bar less than an hour before I slept though the bang that was apparently hard enough to knock all the fridges, chairs and tables over in the bar upstairs!

I woke up to my tour leader saying 'Wake up! We have to get off the boat cause we f***ing hit something!' (you really have to read that in a chilled out South African accent!)

These guys are prone to jokes so think my first response as he handed me a life jacket was, 'Are you f#%king with me?!'

But no he wasn't as all were heading towards the door in dressed in their life jackets!

Although I didn't remember a lot from the safety briefing I did remember that rugging up was important as my singlet & sports shorts weren't going to cut it out there in the near 0 degree temperatures and freezing wind!

So dragged on my jeans from the evening and headed for the door as most people were now gone - stopped just inside the door to put on my thermal top, jacket and scarf and remembered my passport was still in my locker so would need to go back ... 

I was still yet to hear any announcements over the intercom as to the urgency of leaving, so was still quite calm (probably still quite pissed actually!).

So was just about to head back to my locker and someone came in saying we didn't have to go and we could stay on board ... Hooray!

Everyone headed back in with their life jackets on, having been standing on top level of the boat at the meeting point! Didn't stay up to worry about it but crawled back into bed knowing they'd wake me again if need be!

In the morning we found out somehow we'd managed to run into an island (no not an iceberg!) and if I'd got out the door last night I would have seen land out there!

The collision had taken out one of the motors and one still remains but we will now take a lot longer to get to Puerto Natales.

We will get to stay on board tonight as we arrive at 1am, (instead of 2pm in afternoon) and wont be able to leave to go to Tierra Del Fuego til morning after we've stocked up on supplies for camping ... 

This in turn has thrown out any plans anyone may have had to do the W Trek or even to squeeze in all the major day hikes as we will now only have 2 free days at the park :-(

Also unlikely we'll get any Internet access any time soon either!!!  It's been over a week without WiFi (pronounced 'wee fee' here) and I'm starting to get the shakes! Alas as you will eventually read, I will keep tapping away on my iPhone to write my blog and capture all the memorable moments :-)

Navimag Funnies ...

As a few of us were helping someone clean up their smashed bottle of booze from the deck (shortly after boarding Navimag ferry) and wiping away the stickiness with a cloth - Anton our tour leader came over to give us the heads up  ... 'Oh no, you're not on cleaning duty today - take the day off! I forgot to tell you cleaning is included with the price of your ferry ticket!'

A few 'Camilla-isms' (we love her & highly intelligent but she comes out with some beauties!):
* Commenting on something .. 'Well we're all in the same boat' - like yeh literally!
* 'We're just not on the same wave length'